My mother was a Christian, but my father went to the temple and followed another religion. When I was a child, my mother took me to Christian meetings even though my father was unkind to her every time we came home.

As I grew up, I knew that I must decide whether to follow the religion of my mother or my father. I realised that all I learned at the Christian meeting was true. Jesus Christ came to earth to forgive our wrong doing. I needed to say sorry to him for all I had done wrong. I became a Christian – I knew I had made the right choice.

They made fun of me

At this time my parents were working in the country of Brunei, but I moved back to Malaysia. I lived with my father's family. It was very hard for me because they all followed my father's religion.When Sunday (the Christian day of worship) came my relatives kept on asking me, "Are you going to that meeting again? There's no need to go there. Next holy day we'll take you to the temple."

They also laughed at me in an unkind way. This made me cry, but I knew that one day God would hear me and give me strength.

The house that made me afraid

The house where I was living belonged to my grandparents. It was a big house and I felt frightened there at night. I thought I heard noises and saw shadows in the dark. Not many of my relatives lived there. The house was only full during the Chinese New Year. It was a very lonely place to be. I slept all alone upstairs while two of my aunts slept downstairs. I was afraid every night until the dawn came. I used to think that someone or something was behind my back while I was asleep. Many thoughts came into my mind that made me afraid.

I might not wake up again

Things became worse when exam time came. I was worried about my exams – I had to do well or my parents would not be pleased with me. It was as though I had a big weight on my head. This made me even more frightened of the night and I began to have very bad dreams. Sometimes I cried, all my body shook and I even jumped out of my bed in fright. Then a new fear came. I thought I would not wake up in the morning because I had died in the night. I was only 16 years old but I went to sleep with this fear. It was ruling my mind and my whole life.

Suddenly I realised that I had forgotten about God and everything I had learned at the Christian meetings. I did not go to these meetings very often, because of the things my relatives said to me. So I found my Bible and put it near my bed. I wanted to read it again. Every time I felt frightened in the dark I asked God to help me.

Soon I felt peace inside my mind and body, instead of fear. Jesus was my friend and I was not lonely any more or afraid of the dark. From that day onwards I slept very well. All the fears went. I knew that Jesus Christ was with me all the time. I did not need to fear the dark ever again!